WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en
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Cyberspace is a new frontier, largely
untamed and uncontrolled.
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It’s governed by a patchwork of weak and
competing rules, which are still being
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developed and contested. One major issue
is how free and open the Internet should
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be, how freely data should flow across
borders, and who should have access to it.
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The United States and most of its
friends and allies support the idea of a
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global and open Internet — that data
should move between and within countries
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and that everyone should be free to
express themselves and associate with
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others online. In 2011, the U.S. announced
its international strategy for
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cyberspace, which explicitly advocates
for free speech online and commits the
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U.S. to supporting activists, advocates,
and journalists abroad, who often face
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censorship and intimidation. In contrast,
many countries argue that their borders
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apply in cyberspace and that each
country has the right to govern where
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data resides and how the internet is
used within its borders. China is the
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strongest advocate for this concept of
“cyber sovereignty.” While its government
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acknowledges the economic opportunities
the internet provides, it believes that
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if too many people and organizations act
and speak freely online, they can pose a
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political threat. So China built its
Great Firewall in the early 2000s, using
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legislation and technology that forbids
content critical of the government and
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blocks and filters certain websites and
information. China also insists that
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foreign companies that do business in
China must physically store some types
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of data on servers in the country. While
the government claims local data storage
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is important for national security,
foreign critics say the rules make it
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easier for Chinese intelligence to
conduct surveillance on those companies
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and on individuals. Nevertheless, China
promotes its vision of cyber sovereignty
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abroad, inviting world tech leaders to
the annual World Internet Conference in
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Wuzhen and discussing the idea at the
United Nations. Russia is on board with
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China’s view of the issue, and the two
countries have signed a pact agreeing to
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support the principle of cyber
sovereignty. But critics contend that the
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widespread application of cyber
sovereignty could lead to cyberspace
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breaking up into what they call the
“splinternet,” a scenario in which
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countries apply their own rules to the
Internet,
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where users’ access to content is limited
in different ways in different places.
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This risks transforming a global tool
into a hyperlocal, one isolating people
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from foreign ideas. Now, though, as
countries decide which approach to take,
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they affect how everyone — from companies
to political movements to individuals —
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uses the internet all around the world.